Device for opening or throttling the fuel supply to diesel engines



July I, 1969 ,c. e. s. JOHANSSON 3,452,732

DEVICE FOR OPENING OR THROTTLING THE FUEL SUPPLY TO DIESEL ENGINES Filed July 20. 1967 T 5;: I 2s 1" 1" f a 27 9 7 50b 13 2a 11 24 12 I Fig. 3 L 4 2s 3 T w g 5 6 L l g s A l ,4 w 1\/ Q" 61- ZZAM M WNVEN TOR Gym. 9'

United States Patent 3,452,732 DEVICE FOR OPENING 0R THROTTLING THE FUEL SUPPLY T0 DIESEL ENGINES Carl Gustav Simon Johansson, Molndal, Sweden, assignor to Aktiebolaget Gylling & C0., Stockholm, Sweden, a corporation of Sweden Filed July 20, 1967, Ser. No. 654,738 Claims priority, application Sweden, Sept. 7, 1966, 12,012/ 66 Int. Cl. F02n 17/00; F02b 77/00; Eb 47/02 US. Cl. 123-179 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention has reference to a device for opening or throttling the fuel supply to diesel engines and the purpose of the invention is to provide ensuring that the engine cannot be started unintentionally when e.g. the car starts for any reason to move when not intended to and the device also gives a good theft protection.

In order to start or stop a diesel engine one must in some way open or throttle the supply of fuel to the engine. This is commonly carried out by means of some kind of a mechanical control device, e.g. by means of a pull or push control means on the instrument panel. From the point or view of safety it is of importance that this control means is left in throttle position at the parking of a car provided with a diesel engine. Should the car be parked on a slope in gear and the manual brake be not sufiiciently tightened, the weight of the car could bring the engine to rotate and start it and the car will then be driven by the engine. Many mechanical devices are known for obtaining this throttling of the fuel supply but it is common for all of them that they are too easily brought out of function. As a result, diesel engine vehicles are easily stolen.

The present invention has reference to a device for opening and throttling the fuel supply to diesel engines of the kind provided with an electric battery, a starting engine and a key lock and the invention has for its primary purpose to provide a diesel engine vehicle with a trustworthy theft protection. The invention is mainly characterised by an electric magnet having one the one hand a main armature with one end coupled to a control device for the fuel pump of the engine and the other end to a valve connected in the fuel supply conduit to the engine, and on the other hand a supplementary armature which is axially displaceable in relation to the main armature and is adapted to lock the armature in the throttling position of the control device.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the main armature comprises an elongated piston having an aperture in the transverse direction in which there are arranged two balls which look the main armature when this latter by means of electro-magnetic forces brings the control device of the fuel pump to throttling position.

Further, the supplementary armature preferably comprises a piston which is shorter than the main armature. This shorter piston is preferably provided with an extension rod, which extends into the main armature and in the throttling position pushes apart the balls in such a way that they partly engage a notch in the main armature whereby the device is locked.

It is ensured by means of this device that the fuel supply control device is kept in throttling position when the engine has been stopped. There is no possibility to open mechanically the fuel supply but this takes place only when the key has been turned in the key lock.

The device according to the invention further serves 3 ,452,732 Patented July 1, 1969 the purpose of being a safety device for preventing a diesel engine vehicle which has unintentially started to move to start the engine by itself.

The invention will in the following be explained in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically the device according to the invention when coupled between the fuel supply control device of the diesel engine and a valve in the fuel supply conduit,

FIG. 2 shows an electric magnet according to the invention in a longitudinal section and on an enlarged scale with the armatures in the throttle position of the valve, and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to the one in FIG. 2 but with the armatures in start position (unbroken lines) and in operation position (broken lines).

The device according to the invention comprises an electric magnet 1 which is provided with two solenoids 2 and 3 and these solenoids are arranged on a tube 4 of a non-magnetisable material, e.g. plastics and then preferably Delrin. The tube 4 is at one of its ends provided with a collar 5 which is attached to a tube-shaped elongation 6 in such a way that there is formed a groove 5' opening inwards. For the creation of a strong magnetic field, the solenoids 2, 3 are surrounded by metallic portions 7, 8, 9', 10, 11. The device is as a whole enclosed in a box 12.

In the tube 4 there is axially displecea'ble a main armature 13 which takes the shape of an elongated piston and with one end 14 of a somewhat smaller diameter than the rest of the piston by means of a connection rod 15 or analogous device is connected to the control device 16 for the fuel pump 17 of the diesel engine. A spring 18, 19 is arranged on either side of the control device 16.

The opposite end of the main armature 13 is shaped with a sleeve shaped elongation portion 20 which via a spring 21 is connected to a valve 23 in the fuel supply conduit 22. In an aperture 24 extending in the transversal direction through the main armature 13 there are arranged two balls 25, 26 which are adapted to lock the main armature in a certain position as will be explained in detail further below.

In the sleeve shaped elongation portion 20 of the main armature 13 there is arranged a supplementary armature 27 which comprises a piston that is shorter than the main armature. The supplementary armature 27 is provided with a rod 28 extending axially into the main armature 13. The free end of the rod 28 is shaped as a conical plug 29 which is intended, during the throttling of the fuel supply, to be forced in between the balls 25, 26 and to lock the device as also will be explained in the following.

In order to prevent the two armatures at energizing from being stuck to each other, a rubber washe 30 or the like is arranged between them.

In FIG. 1 there is also shown the coupling diagram for the starting circuit and the connection of the electric magnet to the same. One connection of the solenoid 2 is coupled to the starting motor 31 of the diesel engine and this motor 31 is, by means of the contact 33 of the charging relay 32, connected to the battery. In the diagram there is shown also the key lock 34, the coupling arm 35 of which is influenced by the start key and adapted to assume three different positions, viz one zero-position A, an intermediate position B in which some current requiring means in the vehicle such as the radio, the cigarette lighter and so on, are connected to a current source, and a starting relay C.

Before the start of the diesel engine the device according to the invention is in the position shown in FIG. 1. The coupling arm 35 is in the zero-position A. When the diesel engine is to be started, the coupling arm 35 is turned past the intermediate position B to the starting position C with the starting relay coil 32 closing its contact 33. The starting motor 31 is brought into operation. Simultaneously, the solenoid 2 is fed with current. The magnetic field now created influences the two armatures 13 and 27 with a force directed to the left according to the figures. The main armature 13 is in the first phase locked in the original position (see FIG. 2) and the plug 29 presses the balls 25 and 26 against the collar 5 partly into the groove 5' situated here. By the magnetic field the supplementary armature 27 will be moved a certain distance into the solenoid 2 (to the left according to the drawing) while the main armature 13 remains stationary. The plug 29 is then pushed out of its position between the balls 25, 26 which fall inwards in direction towards the shaft centre. Thus, the main armature 13 is released from its locked position and is pushed by the magnetic field after the supplementary armature 27 to the position shown in FIG. 3 with upbroken lines.

The control arm 16 of the fuel pump 17 is pushed by the connection rod with the main armature 13 over from the throttled position to starting position and at the same time the valve 23 opens the fuel supply conduit 22. a

When the engine starts, the coupling arm 35 is allowed to rebound back to the intermediate position B. The current is interrupted through the relay coil 32, the contact 33 is opened and the current to the starting motor 31 as well as to the solenoid 2 is interrupted. When the magnetic field disappears, the control device 16 influenced by the springs 18 and 19 will push the two armatures 13 and 27 a distance to the position shown in FIG. 3 with broken lines, the operation position. The control device 16 is in this position in vertical position and the valve 23 in a somewhat smaller opening position than when in the start position.

When the diesel engine is to be stopped, one pushes a button which preferably is arranged on the vehicle instrument panel, a contact 36 then closing a circuit through the solenoid 3. By means of the force field hereby created, the two armatures 13 and 27 are pushed to the right according to the drawing, the valve 23 then closing the fuel supply conduit 22 and the control device 16 being swung over to throttling position. When the main armature 13 cannot be moved further to the right, the supplementary armature 27 is displaced somewhat towards the same, the plug 29 being forced in between the balls 25, 26 and presses these balls against the collar 5.

The device is now returned to the original, locked posi tion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Due to its closed and compact shape the device according to the invention provides an efficient theft protection which is hard to force. The control device 16 cannot be brought to start or operation positions only by means of mechanical force influence. Only by using the starting key belonging to the vehicle the coupling arm 35 can be adjusted and the mechanism released from its locked position.

The invention has been described in the aforegoing for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A device for opening and throttling the fuel supply to a diesel engine having an'electric battery, a starting motor and a key lock comprising an electric magnet having a main armature, a control device for the fuel pump of the engine coupled to one end of said armature, a valve inserted in the fuel supply conduit to the engine coupled to the other end of said armature, a supplementary armature axially displaceable in relation to said main armature to lock said main armature in the throttling position of said control device, said main armature having a notch, two balls cooperating with said notch to lock said main armature, said supplementary armature comprising a piston shorter than said main armature, a rod on said piston extending axially into said main armature terminating in a conical plug which, in the throttle position, is forced in between said balls to move said balls outwardly into said notch to lock the device. i

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said main armature has a sleeve shaped elongation portion in which said supplementary armature is axially displaceable.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,531,326 3/1925 White 123-198 XR 1,965,372 7/1934 Drabelle l23--179 3,089,475 5/1963 Kijhler 123-179 LAURENCE M. GOODRIDGE, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 123142, 198 

